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redthroatedloonThis weekend seemed to be our time for trying out new, mostly British fantasy programs. And, of course, the Stargate Lowdown.
First: A British series which seems to have had only six episodes, and which we felt was rather classy and interesting. Significant Other noticed that the plot sounded interesting -- a lot of Buffy-like stuff with demons in disguise -- and that the episode feature Tom Baker, for whom we both have a soft spot. Nicely executed and a good plot line, the lead actor does angst well, and when he get beat up at the end, he looks beat up, with swollen lip and all, which is a nice departure from U.S. series, where somebody gets mauled and comes away with a tasteful bruise on their otherwise still-pretty face. However, it turned out, of course, that this was the last of the only six episodes.
Second: A rather awful kiddie program which features character names and, presumably, the setting of Ivanhoe, but not much else. Ivanhoe is a pretty-boy knight, Rebecca has a mane of red hair and magical powers, Cedric a rather tired leader who wanders around the village as though he were the local mayor. Only Rowena seems straight from the book: In other words, pretty and vapid. Lots of CGI monsters. I wouldn't mind it so much, except that, ever since I was a kid, I've always resented bad remakes of my favorite books (I went ballistic the first time I saw Mary Poppins, but that's another rant for another time). Why not make the thing without the fake-Scott names? I mean, really.
Third: Saw this sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, when it played on one of the PBS outlets, and thought it was fun and clever, and was disappointed when I could only catch a few episodes. Have always wanted to see it again, and so I jumped at the chance to see a remake. I was somewhat disappointed -- they spent way too much time killing off the dead half of the team (as though we didn't know it was coming), and the bad guys were a bit too over-the-top to be funny. The dialogue was only occasionally clever. But I'm going to give it at least one more chance, because I really want it to be good, and because the second episode apparently brings in -- yup -- Tom Baker.
Finally: All the actors look great. Except, perhaps, for Christopher Judge; when we first saw those muscles, we worried that he had gotten himself into steroids, until he made jokes about his own body, and then Significant Other declared that guys who took steroids never actually referred to their own exaggerated musculature with humor, so it was probably okay. All the SG-1 actors were adorable. David Hewlett was a stitch ("This looks like a communicator, but it's actually a direct line to my agent..."). There was none of the talking-down "Golly, the new season's gonna be really cool" stuff that some of the other "Lowdown" specials seemed to have -- we thought it was a lot of fun. All except the new bad guys; they still look like Buffy vampires on a bad day, and when Rainbow Francks kept talking about how scary they were, we didn't believe it for a moment. Oh, well. Time will tell.
First: A British series which seems to have had only six episodes, and which we felt was rather classy and interesting. Significant Other noticed that the plot sounded interesting -- a lot of Buffy-like stuff with demons in disguise -- and that the episode feature Tom Baker, for whom we both have a soft spot. Nicely executed and a good plot line, the lead actor does angst well, and when he get beat up at the end, he looks beat up, with swollen lip and all, which is a nice departure from U.S. series, where somebody gets mauled and comes away with a tasteful bruise on their otherwise still-pretty face. However, it turned out, of course, that this was the last of the only six episodes.
Second: A rather awful kiddie program which features character names and, presumably, the setting of Ivanhoe, but not much else. Ivanhoe is a pretty-boy knight, Rebecca has a mane of red hair and magical powers, Cedric a rather tired leader who wanders around the village as though he were the local mayor. Only Rowena seems straight from the book: In other words, pretty and vapid. Lots of CGI monsters. I wouldn't mind it so much, except that, ever since I was a kid, I've always resented bad remakes of my favorite books (I went ballistic the first time I saw Mary Poppins, but that's another rant for another time). Why not make the thing without the fake-Scott names? I mean, really.
Third: Saw this sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, when it played on one of the PBS outlets, and thought it was fun and clever, and was disappointed when I could only catch a few episodes. Have always wanted to see it again, and so I jumped at the chance to see a remake. I was somewhat disappointed -- they spent way too much time killing off the dead half of the team (as though we didn't know it was coming), and the bad guys were a bit too over-the-top to be funny. The dialogue was only occasionally clever. But I'm going to give it at least one more chance, because I really want it to be good, and because the second episode apparently brings in -- yup -- Tom Baker.
Finally: All the actors look great. Except, perhaps, for Christopher Judge; when we first saw those muscles, we worried that he had gotten himself into steroids, until he made jokes about his own body, and then Significant Other declared that guys who took steroids never actually referred to their own exaggerated musculature with humor, so it was probably okay. All the SG-1 actors were adorable. David Hewlett was a stitch ("This looks like a communicator, but it's actually a direct line to my agent..."). There was none of the talking-down "Golly, the new season's gonna be really cool" stuff that some of the other "Lowdown" specials seemed to have -- we thought it was a lot of fun. All except the new bad guys; they still look like Buffy vampires on a bad day, and when Rainbow Francks kept talking about how scary they were, we didn't believe it for a moment. Oh, well. Time will tell.
